Green light for Brazil trade

EIGHT years of endeavour have ended in a victory for the British cattle genetics industry with the announcement Brazil is to reopen its markets.

In January this year EBLEX - the English Beef and Lamb Executive - and the Meat and Livestock Commission hosted a visit by top officials from Brazil's Agriculture Ministry in a bid to persuade them to allow trade in genetic material to restart following a ban in 1996 in the wake of the BSE scare.

And this week officials announced the ban has ended.

Henry Lewis, Livestock Export Manager, said: "There is a great deal of scope for British genetics in Brazil in a wide range of breeds - demand for semen has risen by 34 per cent in the last eight years.

"Brazil imported around a quarter of its semen supplies - worth £3.5 million

- last year and we would delighted to get just 10 per cent of that trade.

"We know we have to start our trade again from scratch against competitors who are well entrenched there - but British genetics are sought after there as they like the quality of British livestock such as Limousin and Charolais which we have already helped to establish in Brazil.

"There has been a lot of effort put into getting this trade going again and we have had a great deal of support both from Defra and the British Embassy in Brazil."